A group from Aviation Geek Fest pose in front of a 777 GE90 engine on the Boeing factory floor. Photo by Boeing.
This weekend was the third Aviation Geek Fest and I think it was a success! We had people come from Denver, Calgary, Vancouver, Dallas and even New York City to share their passion for aviation. In all, about 70 people attended the event and were able to experience unique aviation activities.
The day started with a nice welcome by a Boeing 747 Dreamlifter taking off from Paine Field as some aviation geeks gathered to watch on the Future of Flight’s Strato Deck. Afterwards, folks had the opportunity to check out the Future of Flight’s gallery before we divided into four different tour groups: Boeing Factory Floor Tour, Boeing Dreamliner Gallery, Paine Field Fire Department Tour and How to Become an Airline Pilot with Regal Air.
The folks that took the fire department tour were given a ride in style.
Since I have been lucky enough to get a few factory floor tours and a view inside the Dreamliner Gallery, I decided to take the Paine Field’s Fire Department tour and was not disappointed.
I heard that the rest of the events went great and I am kind of hoping that some of you that were able to go on the other tours can leave your impressions in the comments.
Not only did we get to ride on a fire bus, but we also got to stop and take photos of airplanes.
I went on this tour not to write a story on the fire department (although I hope they welcome me back for one), but I was going as an aviation geek. This means I was able to fully enjoy myself, take photos, ask interesting questions, but did not having to worry about taking notes — like a true avgeek.
Although the actual fire station was very interesting, getting there was half the fun. We were picked up in a the fire department’s Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) bus and were followed by a fire truck. This was in case something were to happen at the airport, the fire personnel in the bus, could hop on the truck and take care of any situation.
There are quite a few Boeing 787s and 747s still waiting to be delivered.
As we headed towards the fire department, on the other side of Paine Field, we stopped and were given some wonderful photo opportunities of the airport. It was nice to be able to see aircraft from angles I have never seen before, while being escorted by a fire truck. The kid in me was quite pleased.
Once we arrived at the fire station, it was time for our tour. The station is still rather new and has everything needed to take care of most incidents that might occur at Paine Field. The airport actually has two fire departments; the one we toured that is operated by Snohomish County and a second that is operated by Boeing. They work together to insure proper airport operations.
The Snohomish County’s main duty is to take care of the airport and private operators, while Boeing’s department is to watch after all the new 777, 767, 787 and 747-8 aircraft.
Planes and fire trucks -- what more could you want?
Although there were so many questions that one could ask about an airport fire operation, my big question was if I could turn on the fire truck lights — and I did. A life long dream was finally accomplished.
Seth Miller, who was also on the tour, put on all the fire gear that a person would need during an emergency situation. It make me hot just thinking about sporting all the gear while fighting a fire.
At the end of the tour, one of the fire rigs pulled outside and showed off its two water cannons on the front of the engine. The largest cannon on the roof is capable of pumping out around 1500 gallons of water per minute, which is sure to help put out most fires.
Cathay Pacific Boeing 747-8F sits next to Lufthansa's Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental.
As we headed back to the Future of Flight, we had some additional opportunities to plane spot and enjoy our drive around Paine Field. Although it is a bit sad to see so many aircraft waiting to be delivered, it provides photo opportunities that will soon no longer be possible.
After everyone returned from their separate tours, we received a presentation from a team of the Boeing Moonshine group who specialize in making production lines as efficient as possible. They are a MacGyver-like team that will build tools and equipment on the spot to help the productivity of supply lines around the world. Their accomplishments has allowed Boeing and their suppliers to become more efficient and able to do more with the same or less space.
Teams of eight got a lesson in supply line management, while building souvenirs.
After their talk, we were taken to another room where the avgeeks gathered eight to a table and were given the task of building an unknown item in a short amount of time. At first it was not so clear what the items were, but after fiddling around, it started to become obvious that they were customized business card holders.
When they completed the first round, they had to take them all a part again, the Moonshine team gave them better instructions and explained that they wanted eight of them built in 1minute and 50 seconds. The first team, who celebrated their quickness, completed theirs in less than a minute. An impressive feat, but they did not end up winning the competition.
It was a lesson in how a supply chain successfully functions. You cannot be late, but you also cannot be too early. It is about delivering your product right on time and the team that was closest to the delivery schedule of 1min and 50 seconds became the actual winner.
Members of the Boeing Moonshine team give a presentation to the aviation geek fest.
Once our supply chain tasks were completed, it was time to head to the Future of Flight Cafe to enjoy pizza, soda and beer while handing out prizes that were donated by United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and the Future of Flight. Luckily there were enough that everyone received at least one thing, but I was so into the socializing and talking about airplanes that I managed not to take one photo of this part of the event — oh well.
I think overall, it was an amazing event and I always love getting around others that share my passion of aviation and airlines. A huge thanks to the Future of Flight and Boeing for working to make this event unforgettable and to United for donating gifts and for Southwest to not only donating gifts, but also having one of their bloggers attend.
You better believe there will be another in the future and I hope that you will be able to join us.
President Obama in front of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner inside the Boeing Factory. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren.
President Barack Obama toured and spoke at the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington mid-day on Friday. An audience of Boeing workers and local politicians waited for President Obama to take the stage with three Dreamliners and a banner with the slogan ’œAn America Built to Last’ as a backdrop.
Air Force One arrived at Boeing Field at around 11am, which was an event in itself for local planespotters. A motorcade brought President Obama, Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire, and Boeing escorts onto the vast 787 factory floor. The President toured two of three Dreamliners before exiting the second 787 (already outfitted in a make-shift United Airlines livery) onto a red carpet down the stairs and to the podium. In his speech, Obama made sure to give ’œprops’ to United since they are based out of his hometown of Chicago.
Boeing employees listen to Obama speak inside the Boeing Factory. United's 787 showed off their livery. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren.
After thanking Boeing for the ’œsmooth ride’ he has in Air Force One, the 747 which was built at the Boeing Everett plant in 1986, President Obama admired the 787 Dreamliner in front of the Boeing audience,’œThis is the first commercial airplane to be made with 50% composite materials. It’s lighter, it’s faster, it’s more fuel-efficient than any airplane in its class. And it looks cool.’
Later, Obama stated that business was ’œbooming’ for Boeing, citing a 50% increase in orders for commercial aircraft last year, and 13,000 new Boeing employees hired across the country. Obama praised Boeing as a company that keeps jobs in America in a global economy where many manufacturing jobs are moving overseas. Boeing employees cheered as Obama skewered foreign competition, ’œCompanies like Boeing are finding out that even when we can’t make things faster or cheaper than China, we can make them better.’ In what will inevitably be an election year issue, Obama continued by laying out his hopes to change the tax code to favor companies who keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S., and more heavily tax companies who outsource.
Notice how event though this Boeing 787 has the United globe on the tail, it has not actually been painted yet. You can see Obama exiting the aircraft. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren.
From the 25-year employee and the 787 Quality Inspector who got to introduce Jim Albaugh (President and Chief Executive Officer of the Boeing Commercial Airplanes) and President Obama, respectively, to Obama’s personal acknowledgement of machinist and engineering union leaders in the audience, workers were clearly meant to be at the forefront of the event. ’œIf we have a level playing field, America will always win, because we have the best workers.’
President Obama speaks to Boeing workers and media. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren.
The praise of America’s workforce was particularly well-timed with the payroll tax bill that passed through Congress with bipartisan support Friday morning. President Obama took a couple of minutes in Everett to celebrate the bill that will delay a payroll tax hike for working Americans and will renew jobless benefits for others. In one of his only mentions of bitterly divided political parties, Obama lauded the bill as ’œwhat happens when Congress focuses on doing the right thing instead of just playing politics.’
Air Force One (well Obama is not on it, so technically, that is not it's name right now) sitting at Paine Field. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren.
After leaving the Everett facility, President Obama visited elsewhere in the Seattle-area via helicopter, but shortly returned to Paine Field and departed in Air Force One at about 6pm local time.
The Future of Flight, Boeing and AirlineReporter.com are continuing to move forward with Aviation Geek Fest 2012 (#AGF12) and are ready to share a rough draft schedule of events for the day. Times can change — well really anything can change, so this is the basic idea that we are working with right now.
There will be two kind of tickets: ELITE for $20 and regular for $10. The money will be used for the event: food, drinks, prizes and possibly transportation. ELITE will get you to the entire event, including the uber aviation geek experiences during the Select-a-Quest option. Everything will be first come, first serve and when we allow folks to purchase tickets, you can choose when adventure you would like to go on.
We are unsure when we will open registration, but you will have at least a 48 hour warning and everyone will need to register and reserve their spot in the event. Be sure to join the #AGF12 mailing list to make sure you do not miss out. Here is the draft schedule:
Click to design your own Boeing 787 Dreamliner -- probably can do much better than this.
During The Weekend: Self-Guided Aviation Goodness
We will give some options that people can participate in on their own either before or after #AGF12.
Around 12:30pm: ELITE Meet and Greet
Check in at the Future of Flight and meet the other aviation geeks participating at #AGF12.
Around 2pm: ELITE Select-a-Quest
Guests will pre-register for one of a few aviation adventures. We know for sure a group of
people will be able to get a Boeing factory floor tour and another group will be able to visit the
Dreamliner Gallery. We are currently still working on other options.
Around 3:30pm: Special Speaker
A larger group of people are welcome to come hear a special aviation-themed speaker. More
details coming soon.
Around 5:00pm: Aviation Geek Fest Social
Food and drink will be served while you can tour the Future of Flight, get to know folks, take
photos in the cockpit of a Boeing 727 and more.
There will be a few other surprises added in as well. Stay tuned and make sure to sign up for the Aviation Geek Fest 2012 mailing list for all the latest details.
How does Boeing paint their largest aircraft — well very carefully of course. This video, posted by Lufthansa, shows how Boeing went about painting a 747-8 Intercontinental (D-ABYA). The Lufthansa livery is very simple, but elegant at the same time. It looks right at home on a Boeing 747-8I.
Things got a little busy in 2011 and we did not have an official Aviation Geek Fest of 2011, but that is not going to stop us from having one soon. It has been decided that the next Aviation Geek Fest will be on Sunday February 19, 2012. Currently I am working with the Future of Flight and Boeing to do some cool things this year.
Nothing is locked down yet, so I can’t share, but you are not going to want to miss out on this one.
What is Aviation Geek Fest you ask? It is an opportunity for those who love aviation and airlines to come together in Seattle and celebrate and experience some pretty cool aviation related things. Check out Aviation Geek Fest from 2009 and 2010.
We aren’t even sure of the time, if it will cost money, how many people we can have come (it has been about 50 in the past) or any other details you will want to know. I can say that we like to make it better each year and that is the goal this year.
